Book Review | The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli

Title: The Last Namsara
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Publication: October 3rd 2017 by HarperTeen
Series: Iskari #1
Pages: 432
Genre: YA Fantasy
Copy: Bought
Summary: In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be dark—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death bringer. 

These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up hearing in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.

Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her. 

Book Review *SPOILERS* | Last Stand by Rachel E. Carter

Title: Last Stand
Author: Rachel E. Carter
Publication: February 7th 2017 by Rachel E. Carter
Series: (The Black Mage #4)
Pages: 452
Genre: YA Fanstay/Action-Adventure
Copy: Bought
Summary: He’s the Black Mage and she’s the traitor to the Crown.
Ryiah’s world was shattered the night she discovered King Blayne’s nefarious plans. Now, she has to betray the one she loves most in order to save the realm from war. Torn between love and duty, Ry finds herself on a perilous mission to help the rebels and convince the kingdom of Pythus not to honor its pact with the corrupt king of Jerar—all the while deceiving the most powerful mage in the realm, the very man sworn to protect the Crown and hunt the rebels at all costs: her husband.
She’s one step ahead, but sooner or later the curtain will fall.
Sooner or later, she’ll have to fight.
Witness the epic conclusion of The Black Mage series, and see just how far one girl will go to save her kingdom and the boy she loves—even when that boy has become the enemy.

Book Review (ARC) | Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves

Title: Blood Rose Rebellion
Author: Rosalyn Eves
Publication: March 28th 2017 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Series: First in a Trilogy
Pages: 416
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Copy: ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: The thrilling first book in a YA fantasy trilogy for fans of Red Queen. In a world where social prestige derives from a trifecta of blood, money, and magic, one girl has the ability to break the spell that holds the social order in place.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Arden is barred from society by a defect of blood. Though her family is part of the Luminate, powerful users of magic, she is Barren, unable to perform the simplest spells. Anna would do anything to belong. But her fate takes another course when, after inadvertently breaking her sister’s debutante spell—an important chance for a highborn young woman to show her prowess with magic—Anna finds herself exiled to her family’s once powerful but now crumbling native Hungary.

Her life might well be over.

In Hungary, Anna discovers that nothing is quite as it seems. Not the people around her, from her aloof cousin Noémi to the fierce and handsome Romani Gábor. Not the society she’s known all her life, for discontent with the Luminate is sweeping the land. And not her lack of magic. Isolated from the only world she cares about, Anna still can’t seem to stop herself from breaking spells.

As rebellion spreads across the region, Anna’s unique ability becomes the catalyst everyone is seeking. In the company of nobles, revolutionaries, and Romanies, Anna must choose: deny her unique power and cling to the life she’s always wanted, or embrace her ability and change that world forever.

Book Review | First Year by Rachel E. Carter

Title: First Year
Author: Rachel E. Carter
Publication: January 24th 17 by Rachel E. Carter
Series: First of 4 Books (all of them have been released)
Pages: 252
Genre: YA Action/Adventure & Fantasy
Copy: Bought
Summary: Before the age of seventeen, the young men and women of Jerar are given a choice —pursue a trade or enroll in a trial year in one of the realm’s three war schools to study as a soldier, knight, or mage…
For fifteen-year-old Ryiah, the choice has always been easy. Become a mage and train in Combat, the most prestigious faction of magic.
Yet when she arrives, Ry finds herself competing against friend and foe for one of the exalted apprenticeships. Everyone is rooting for her to fail—first and foremost among them is Prince Darren, the school prodigy who has done nothing but make life miserable since she arrived.
Will Ry survive, or will her dream go down in flames?

Book Review | Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Title: Caraval
Author: Stephanie Garber
Publication: January 31st 2017 by Flatiron Books
Series: First of 2 Books
Pages: 407
Genre: YA Fantasy/Mystery
Copy: Bought
Summary: Whatever you've heard about Caraval, it doesn't compare to the reality. It's more than just a game or a performance. It's the closest you'll ever find to magic in this world . . . 

Welcome, welcome to Caraval―Stephanie Garber’s sweeping tale of two sisters who escape their ruthless father when they enter the dangerous intrigue of a legendary game.

Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.

Book Review (ARC) | Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza

Title: Empress of a Thousand Skies
Author: Rhoda Belleza
Publication: February 7th 2017 by Razorbill
Series: First in a series (number of books tbd)
Pages: 344
Genre: YA sci-fi/fantasy
Copy: ARC provided from my local bookstore, Face in a Book
Summary: Empress
Rhee, also known as Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta’an, is the sole surviving heir to a powerful dynasty. She’ll stop at nothing to avenge her family and claim her throne.
Fugitive
Aly has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. But when he’s falsely accused of killing Rhee, he's forced to prove his innocence to save his reputation – and his life.
Madman
With planets on the brink of war, Rhee and Aly are thrown together to confront a ruthless evil that threatens the fate of the entire galaxy.

Book Review | Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Title: Heartless
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication: November 8th 2016 by Feiwel & Friends
Series: Standalone
Pages: 449
Genre: Fantasy
Copy: Hardcover; Bought
Summary: Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.
At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.
Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

Book Review (ARC) | The Alchemists of Loom by Elise Kova

Title: The Alchemists of Loom
Author: Elise Kova
Publication: January 10th 2017 by Keymaster Press
Series: Loom Saga #1
Pages: 380
Genre: Fantasy
Copy: ARC provided from publisher in exchange for an honest review
Summary: Her vengeance. His vision.

Ari lost everything she once loved when the Five Guilds’ resistance fell to the Dragon King. Now, she uses her unparalleled gift for clockwork machinery in tandem with notoriously unscrupulous morals to contribute to a thriving underground organ market. There isn’t a place on Loom that is secure from the engineer turned thief, and her magical talents are sold to the highest bidder as long as the job defies their Dragon oppressors.

Cvareh would do anything to see his sister usurp the Dragon King and sit on the throne. His family’s house has endured the shame of being the lowest rung in the Dragons’ society for far too long. The Alchemist Guild, down on Loom, may just hold the key to putting his kin in power, if Cvareh can get to them before the Dragon King’s assassins.

When Ari stumbles upon a wounded Cvareh, she sees an opportunity to slaughter an enemy and make a profit off his corpse. But the Dragon sees an opportunity to navigate Loom with the best person to get him where he wants to go.

He offers her the one thing Ari can’t refuse: A wish of her greatest desire, if she brings him to the Alchemists of Loom.

Book Review | A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

Title: A Torch Against the Night

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Publication: August 30th 2016 by Razorbill

Series: An Ember in the Ashes #2

Pages: 452

Genre: YA Fantasy

Copy: Bought

Summary: Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

Book Review | Crystal Crowned by Elise Kova

Title: Crystal Crowned
Author: Elise Kova
Publication: July 12th 2016 by Silver Wing Press
Series: Air Awakens #5
Pages: 400
Genre: YA Fantasy
Copy: Bought
Summary:
Long live Solaris. 

One bloodthirsty ruler has been overthrown by another, casting the shadow of death over the Solaris Empire. Vhalla Yarl stands upon the stage of fate, prepared to do battle one final time. Fragile alliances will be tested and new bonds will be formed as the world is reshaped. She fights as the champion of peace, but when the night is darkest will she be able to pay the price of a new dawn?

Book Review (ARC) | Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Title: Three Dark Crowns

Author: Kendare Blake

Publication: September 20th 2016 by HarperTeen

Series: Three Dark Crowns #1

Pages: 416

Genre: YA Fantasy

Copy: ARC received at YALLWEST

Summary: Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

If only it was that simple. Katharine is unable to tolerate the weakest poison, and Arsinoe, no matter how hard she tries, can’t make even a weed grow. The two queens have been shamefully faking their powers, taking care to keep each other, the island, and their powerful sister Mirabella none the wiser. But with alliances being formed, betrayals taking shape, and ruthless revenge haunting the queens’ every move, one thing is certain: the last queen standing might not be the strongest…but she may be the darkest.

Crystal Crowned Cover Reveal + Giveaway!

Hey everyone!  I'm so excited to participate in the cover reveal of Crystal Crowned by Elise Kova today.  This is the very last book in the Air Awakens series, and seeing the cover has only made that reality so much more real.  While I'm so excited to read this book, I'm also really nervous for the characters' fates and sad that the series is coming to an end.

As for the cover, I am in love with this one!  I swear, these covers just keep on getting better and better, and Crystal Crowned did not disappoint!  The colors are beautiful, and I love Vhalla's look in this cover (her hair is finally brown hahaha).  She also just looks super badass, so that's always a plus.  Okay, okay, I think it's time for you guys to see the cover now...

Quick Reviews | Red Queen & Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Everyone has been ranting about this series for literally ever (that is definitely not correct English), and I was so excited to finally pick it up!!  I have had Red Queen waiting on my shelf for quite a while now, but when I found a gorgeous signed hardcover of Glass Sword at Costco (literally cheap book heaven), it renewed my enthusiasm for these books.  After binge reading both books, I am now not-so-patiently waiting for the next book to come out, which, sadly, does not come out until next year :'(.  Until then, I decided to post quick reviews for both of these books, because sometimes you only need a few words to convey your feelings for an entire 400 page novel (okay let's be honest I'm just lazy)...


Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First 1/3 of this book: It's okay I guess...
Second 1/3: Really, what is all the hype about??
Last 1/3: WAIT. WHAT??? WAIT WHAT?!?!?! NOOOO WAIT WHAT OHMYGOD NOO AHHH I NEED THE NEXT BOOK RIGHT NOW



Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is so freaking good but that ending actually killed me. I am writing from the grave to tell you that reading this book when the third book is still a year away was a bad idea!!!



View all my reviews


Let me know if you have read one or both of these books, or want to read them in the comments below!  If you have read them, what did you think?

Book Blitz + Giveaway | Earth's End by Elise Kova

Book Review | Winter by Marissa Meyer

Title: Winter
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication: November 10th 2015 by Feiwel and Friends
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Pages: 824
Genre: Fantasy, Re-Telling, YA
Copy: Hardcover, Gifted
Summary: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

#TBT Book Review | Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha van Leer

Title: Between the Lines
Author(s): Jodi Picoult, Samantha van Leer
Illustrator(s): Yvonne Gilbert, Scott M. Fischer
Publication: June 26th 2012 by Simon Pulse Simon Schuster
Series: First book (there is one known companion novel)
Pages: 368
Genre: YA; Fairy-tale
Copy: Paperback, Bought
Summary: What happens when happily ever after…isn’t? Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book -- one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah. And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom. Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

The Winner's Curse | Review

Title: The Winner's Curse

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Publication: March 4th 2014 by Farrar Straus Giroux

Series: First book in trilogy

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Copy: Paperback, bought

Summary: They were never meant to be together. As a general's daughter, seventeen-year-old Kestrel enjoys an extravagant and privileged life. Arin has nothing but the clothes on his back. Then Kestrel makes an impulsive decision that binds Arin to her. Though they try to fight it, they can't help but fall in love. In order to be together, they must betray their people . . . but to be loyal to their country, they must betray each other. Set in a new world, The Winner's Curse is a story of rebellion, duels, ballroom dances, wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.